Global Integration and Economic Growth in Emerging Countries: The Case of BRICS and NEXT-11

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of global integration on economic growth in a large group—BRICS and NEXT-11—of emerging countries and it tries to verify a possible different relation for the second group. The period of analysis is 1980–2015. Our hypothesis is that the impact of global integration (measured as foreign direct investment and share of trade as percentage of GDP) on economic growth is not only direct but also indirect through various other determinants of economic growth. Thus, by using panel data econometric estimation techniques, multiplicative models are estimated. Results show that global integration—both trade openness and FDI inflow—benefits economic growth. The coefficients are however higher in the BRICS group rather than in the complete sample.